The Ghost & The Goth by Stacey Kade
Release Date: June 29, 2010
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 288
Source: Publisher/Accepted Pitch
Interest: Debut Author
Challenge: 2010 Debut Author Challenge
Buy the Book: Amazon
After a close encounter with the front end of a school bus, Alona Dare goes from Homecoming Queen to Queen of the Dead. Now she’s stuck as a spirit (DON’T call her a ghost) in the land of the living with no sign of the big, bright light to take her away. To make matters worse, the only person who might be able to help her is Will Killian, a total loser outcast who despises the social elite. He alone can see and hear (turns out he’s been “blessed” with the ability to communicate with the dead), but he wants nothing to do with the former mean girl of Groundsboro High.
Alona has never needed anyone for anything, and now she’s supposed to expose her deepest, darkest secrets to this pseudo-goth boy? Right. She’s not telling anyone what really happened the day she died, not even to save her eternal soul. And Will’s not filling out any volunteer forms to help her cross to the other side. He only has a few more weeks until his graduation, when he can strike out on his own and find a place with less spiritual interference. But he has to survive and stay out of the psych ward until then. Can they get over their mutual distrust—and the weird attraction between them—to work together before Alona vanishes for good and Will is locked up for seeing things that don’t exist?
Summary from Amazon.com
I really enjoyed reading this one! There wasn't really all that much depth to the story, but I'm not saying that was a bad thing. It was a cutesy, fun... very quick read, and sometimes you just want to read that type of story! The Ghost and The Goth is told in alternating perspectives... we have Alona... the newly dead, and then Will, the boy that can 'see dead people!'
Alona was definitely a different character... usually I wouldn't be able to stand the shallow, miss perfect persona that she alludes perfectly, but we soon discover that not all is rainbows and sunshine in the life of Alona Dare. I think besides discovering the new "life" that Alona now has was finding out the truth about her life when she was actually living. Will was the character that left the lasting impression. He seems to have a lot more depth than Alona... although I will admit she did surprise me in the end. I'm hoping for a sequel with more information about Will and what exactly his ability entails.
The story moved along rather fast, the first half was a tad bit tedious, but we really got a lot of information about the characters and what was going on... once that was established the pages went whipping by.
The Ghost & The Goth was a charming story about two very different people (and I use the term people here loosely... since one is in fact a ghost) finding that you really can't judge a book by it's cover.
Overall... F.U.N!